Not many people are familiar with thermodynamics and will just push it to the side assuming that it just involves temperature and is not all that important. They are right that is involves temperature, but it is much more exciting than that. When defined by a dictionary, thermodynamics is the science of relations between heat and mechanical energy or work and the conversion of one to the other. There are many branches of thermodynamics and each of them are as important as the last. These branches are Absolute Zero, the 1st and 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.
Thermodynamics and absolute zero trace all the way back to King James I’s reign over England. He had a court Magician who was also an alchemist. His name was Cornelius Treble. He enjoyed experimenting with cold and if it was a substance that just entered an object, like winter to London or how warm soup would become cold and how water would freeze. One of his experiments included mixing ice and water to create an artificial cold. He unconsciously created the first air conditioning unit when he showed the king in the Westminster Great Hall. His experiment consisted of a shelf structure with hundreds of glasses filled with this ice water and a fan behind it to blow the cold throughout the hall. Of course the king was amazed. Treble is not known for creating the air conditioning unit only because he did not pursue it to it’s possible max. He is considered the very first to experiment with cold. [1]
Another scientist that experimented with cold was Robert Boyle. He built a lab to experiment the nature of air, and he is considered the very first master of cold. His main purpose was to find out where cold came from. The common belief of the time was that cold was a substance that had it’s own atoms and molecules. And experiment of Boyle’s was to weigh a bucket of water and then to place it outside. If the bucket was the same weight then cold was not a substance. Of course the bucket was the same weight frozen as it was as a liquid. He then realized that heat was a form of motion between all of the atoms and molecules in a substance, like water. When these molecules became hot they move very quickly and when they get cold they moved so slowly that they almost quit moving.[2]
Eventually scientists realized that they needed a measurement system to take temperatures. The Italians first made thermometers that were very large and used alcohol, a substance that expands dramatically when heated. Fahrenheit made the first widely accepted thermometer that was quite a lot smaller than the Italian’s meters and used mercury. Because he used mercury, he did not need a large contraption. His units went up to 96.7 degrees, which was a normal human’s body temperature. Then around the same time Celsius created his thermometer that began at 100 degrees equaled boiling and 0 degrees equaled frozen. Originally his meter was upside down. [3]
Guillaume Amontons was another scientist interested in temperature. In his experiments, he heated and cooled class bulbs containing air. He realized that there was a lot of pressure when the water was hot and less when it was cold because of the moving particles. He decided that if there was zero pressure then there was zero temperature.Soon the particle theory was slowing down and becoming old fashioned even though many people still believed that cold was the absence of heat, they just had no proof. [4]
A scientist by the name of Antoine Lavoisier believed wrongly in the caloric theory. He believed that heat was a substance on the Periodic Table of Elements and it was called Caloric. Caloric, to him, was some weightless fluid that flowed into cold objects to make them warm. Very few people doubted him because he was famous for his deeds in chemistry, he had even made a calorimeter. The calorimeter was similar to a thermometer. Eventually he was jailed and guillotined. His arch nemesis was Count Rumford who was out to prove Lavoisier’s caloric theory wrong. Rumford was in the military and he would frequently make cannons for the navy and army. He knew that heat was a form of motion because his cannon bore and when he turned his cannon around in water, it would create heat. Eventually after Lavoisier’s death, Rumford would marry his widow, but they divorced only after a year. He founded a royal institution founded in London.[5]
Fredrick Tudor was debating with his brother on how to make money off of his father’s land when they decided to sell ice from his pond. Tudor only sold blocks of ice to people in the states at first, then he hired someone to build him a ship. Eventually his ice made it all the way to India and China. He realized that ice took a while to melt, but if they are covered in salt they stay frozen longer. Tudor and his brother became one of the first American million-heirs.[6]
Sadi Carnot was the scientist that found out that energy and mechanical work was neither consumed nor destroyed. He was also known as the the father of thermodynamics. Carnot explored heat and steam engines in his book "Refections on the Motive Power of Fire," and explained his findings in a common language that the public could understand. He created a more abstract heat engine that resulted in his thermodynamic system and this system got rid of many of the old steam engine's flaws.[7]
In 1847 William Thomson (AKA Lord Kelvin) and James Prescott Joule both believed that Carnot was incorrect and tried to prove the caloric theory and Carnot's heat engine wrong. Thomson believed that the gas thermometer only gave an operational definition of temperature and proposed an absolute temperature scale. He also believed that there was a point that would retain or transfer no heat (caloric), and this was absolute zero. During Thomson's rewriting of his papers on temperature, he had the first ideas of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Carnot's theory was that when heat is lost from an object, it is absolutely lost, but Thomson contended that it was “lost to man irrecoverable; but not lost in the material world.” William Thomson and James Joule had very similar views on the topic of temperature and both were planning similar experiments. Eventually the two worked together for many years with Thomson recording the data and Joule performing the experiment.[8]
James Prescott Joule argued for the mutual convertibility of heat and mechanical work and for their mechanical equivalence. Mechanical energy into heat was the steam engine in reverse. He claimed to have such great precision when measuring temperature that he was able to measure within 1/200 of a degree Fahrenheit. He had such a great thermometer because he brewed beer and had access to the technologies. William Thomson and James Prescott Joule created the Law of Thermodynamics. Joule went on to experiment with energy, it can be converted from one form to another, but can never be created or destroyed. Hence, the Joule represents energy. Carnot wrongly believed that heat flows in one direction only, from hot to cold.[9]
Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is the study of work, heat, and energy (thermal) and the how it flows into natural systems, because of this study many natural physical laws have been made. Heat is a form of energy. Describes truths found in the universe. Flow of energy in and out of systems.The heat is created by atoms and molecules working together to create some type of energy. Heat/energy flows from object to object If you have two cups of coffee and one is fresher and hotter than the other cup, than heat/energy from the fresh cup will flow to the cooler up to warm it up. The same with pressure. Areas with high pressure send molecules into areas with a lower pressure. Was established in the 19th century when scientist were discovering steam engines. Basically only deals with the lard scale responses from a system that can be observed and measured in experiments. Kinetic theory. When you change the system into a solid, liquid, or gas, the atoms and molecules change, too. [10]
The first law of thermodynamics AKA Law of Conservation of Energy = energy can be transferred from on thing or system to another in any form. Can’t be created or destroyed. Total amount of energy is constant. Relates to kinetic and potential energy. How much work a thing/ system does. Transfer of heat. Can be the definition of “internal energy.” [11]
Second law of thermodynamics = heat can’t be transferred from something cold to something hot, like how a cold cup of coffee can’t make a warm cup of coffee warmer. Natural processes that involve energy transfers must have one direction. All transfers can’t be reversed. Because of the 2nd law, energy and matter are becoming less useful in the universe as time keeps going. Something about entropy. Perfect order in the universe happened after the Big Bang when everything, like energy and matter, were “unified.” Total amount of entropy in a system can not decrease, it remains constant. [12]
Table of Contents
Thermodynamics
Not many people are familiar with thermodynamics and will just push it to the side assuming that it just involves temperature and is not all that important. They are right that is involves temperature, but it is much more exciting than that. When defined by a dictionary, thermodynamics is the science of relations between heat and mechanical energy or work and the conversion of one to the other. There are many branches of thermodynamics and each of them are as important as the last. These branches are Absolute Zero, the 1st and 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.
Introduction
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History
Thermodynamics and absolute zero trace all the way back to King James I’s reign over England. He had a court Magician who was also an alchemist. His name was Cornelius Treble. He enjoyed experimenting with cold and if it was a substance that just entered an object, like winter to London or how warm soup would become cold and how water would freeze. One of his experiments included mixing ice and water to create an artificial cold. He unconsciously created the first air conditioning unit when he showed the king in the Westminster Great Hall. His experiment consisted of a shelf structure with hundreds of glasses filled with this ice water and a fan behind it to blow the cold throughout the hall. Of course the king was amazed. Treble is not known for creating the air conditioning unit only because he did not pursue it to it’s possible max. He is considered the very first to experiment with cold. [1]
Another scientist that experimented with cold was Robert Boyle. He built a lab to experiment the nature of air, and he is considered the very first master of cold. His main purpose was to find out where cold came from. The common belief of the time was that cold was a substance that had it’s own atoms and molecules. And experiment of Boyle’s was to weigh a bucket of water and then to place it outside. If the bucket was the same weight then cold was not a substance. Of course the bucket was the same weight frozen as it was as a liquid. He then realized that heat was a form of motion between all of the atoms and molecules in a substance, like water. When these molecules became hot they move very quickly and when they get cold they moved so slowly that they almost quit moving.[2]
Eventually scientists realized that they needed a measurement system to take temperatures. The Italians first made thermometers that were very large and used alcohol, a substance that expands dramatically when heated. Fahrenheit made the first widely accepted thermometer that was quite a lot smaller than the Italian’s meters and used mercury. Because he used mercury, he did not need a large contraption. His units went up to 96.7 degrees, which was a normal human’s body temperature. Then around the same time Celsius created his thermometer that began at 100 degrees equaled boiling and 0 degrees equaled frozen. Originally his meter was upside down. [3]
Guillaume Amontons was another scientist interested in temperature. In his experiments, he heated and cooled class bulbs containing air. He realized that there was a lot of pressure when the water was hot and less when it was cold because of the moving particles. He decided that if there was zero pressure then there was zero temperature.Soon the particle theory was slowing down and becoming old fashioned even though many people still believed that cold was the absence of heat, they just had no proof. [4]
A scientist by the name of Antoine Lavoisier believed wrongly in the caloric theory. He believed that heat was a substance on the Periodic Table of Elements and it was called Caloric. Caloric, to him, was some weightless fluid that flowed into cold objects to make them warm. Very few people doubted him because he was famous for his deeds in chemistry, he had even made a calorimeter. The calorimeter was similar to a thermometer. Eventually he was jailed and guillotined. His arch nemesis was Count Rumford who was out to prove Lavoisier’s caloric theory wrong. Rumford was in the military and he would frequently make cannons for the navy and army. He knew that heat was a form of motion because his cannon bore and when he turned his cannon around in water, it would create heat. Eventually after Lavoisier’s death, Rumford would marry his widow, but they divorced only after a year. He founded a royal institution founded in London.[5]
Fredrick Tudor was debating with his brother on how to make money off of his father’s land when they decided to sell ice from his pond. Tudor only sold blocks of ice to people in the states at first, then he hired someone to build him a ship. Eventually his ice made it all the way to India and China. He realized that ice took a while to melt, but if they are covered in salt they stay frozen longer. Tudor and his brother became one of the first American million-heirs.[6]
Sadi Carnot was the scientist that found out that energy and mechanical work was neither consumed nor destroyed. He was also known as the the father of thermodynamics. Carnot explored heat and steam engines in his book "Refections on the Motive Power of Fire," and explained his findings in a common language that the public could understand. He created a more abstract heat engine that resulted in his thermodynamic system and this system got rid of many of the old steam engine's flaws.[7]
In 1847 William Thomson (AKA Lord Kelvin) and James Prescott Joule both believed that Carnot was incorrect and tried to prove the caloric theory and Carnot's heat engine wrong. Thomson believed that the gas thermometer only gave an operational definition of temperature and proposed an absolute temperature scale. He also believed that there was a point that would retain or transfer no heat (caloric), and this was absolute zero. During Thomson's rewriting of his papers on temperature, he had the first ideas of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Carnot's theory was that when heat is lost from an object, it is absolutely lost, but Thomson contended that it was “lost to man irrecoverable; but not lost in the material world.” William Thomson and James Joule had very similar views on the topic of temperature and both were planning similar experiments. Eventually the two worked together for many years with Thomson recording the data and Joule performing the experiment.[8]
James Prescott Joule argued for the mutual convertibility of heat and mechanical work and for their mechanical equivalence. Mechanical energy into heat was the steam engine in reverse. He claimed to have such great precision when measuring temperature that he was able to measure within 1/200 of a degree Fahrenheit. He had such a great thermometer because he brewed beer and had access to the technologies. William Thomson and James Prescott Joule created the Law of Thermodynamics. Joule went on to experiment with energy, it can be converted from one form to another, but can never be created or destroyed. Hence, the Joule represents energy. Carnot wrongly believed that heat flows in one direction only, from hot to cold.[9]
Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is the study of work, heat, and energy (thermal) and the how it flows into natural systems, because of this study many natural physical laws have been made. Heat is a form of energy. Describes truths found in the universe. Flow of energy in and out of systems.The heat is created by atoms and molecules working together to create some type of energy. Heat/energy flows from object to object If you have two cups of coffee and one is fresher and hotter than the other cup, than heat/energy from the fresh cup will flow to the cooler up to warm it up. The same with pressure. Areas with high pressure send molecules into areas with a lower pressure. Was established in the 19th century when scientist were discovering steam engines. Basically only deals with the lard scale responses from a system that can be observed and measured in experiments. Kinetic theory. When you change the system into a solid, liquid, or gas, the atoms and molecules change, too. [10]
The first law of thermodynamics AKA Law of Conservation of Energy = energy can be transferred from on thing or system to another in any form. Can’t be created or destroyed. Total amount of energy is constant. Relates to kinetic and potential energy. How much work a thing/ system does. Transfer of heat. Can be the definition of “internal energy.” [11]
Second law of thermodynamics = heat can’t be transferred from something cold to something hot, like how a cold cup of coffee can’t make a warm cup of coffee warmer. Natural processes that involve energy transfers must have one direction. All transfers can’t be reversed. Because of the 2nd law, energy and matter are becoming less useful in the universe as time keeps going. Something about entropy. Perfect order in the universe happened after the Big Bang when everything, like energy and matter, were “unified.” Total amount of entropy in a system can not decrease, it remains constant. [12]
Absolute Zero
[13]References
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2jSv8PDDwA|youtube.com]]
youtube.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2jSv8PDDwA|youtube.com]]
[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2jSv8PDDwA]|youtube.com]]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2jSv8PDDwA|youtube.com]]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2jSv8PDDwAyoutube.com]]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2jSv8PDDwA|youtube.com]]
http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/6e.html|physicalgeography.net]]
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/thermo.html|grc.nasa.gov]]
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0131663011/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0805391908&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=12NE0SKGV5AX06MQ195T|Amazon.com]]